Logo design

Mom and Pop to Fortune 500 and everything in between. From designing and conceptualizing the completed logo package to illustrating just the logo mark. Corporate, logo characters, promotional, typographic or hand-lettered. I've designed a wide range of different marks and continue to explore new and traditional techniques.

These are just a few examples of the hundreds of logos I've designed, for dozens of categories. If you don't see a particular category shown here, please ask – I just may have a sample.

LinkedIn Learning

How do you help someone find information that will help them with their current situation – whether it's improving their current job, getting a promotion or making a career change? Well, that was part of my job. I led the team that did it visually.

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network. LinkedIn Learning is a relatively new product that incorporates the wonderful courses that are produced by LinkedIn's Lynda.com and makes them readily available for both of their users.

My team was tasked with improving the site's user experience with a better library of thumbnail designs. Images that inform and engage the user into wanting to explore further and hopefully even watch the course. In my time there, we developed several generations of styles for which to help the user find the content they're most interested in. We are a group of designers and illustrators curating photography, icons, illustration and other interesting imagery that is produced for the courses.

It was a daunting task, with well over 6,000 courses and counting. We built new thumbnails for popular existing courses, as well as images for new courses releasing each week. Lots of content, with little time to waste.

For the illustrations shown here, I was the art director and lead illustrator setting the tone for the look and feel of this and other styles. The illustrations were made to be modular and an extensive image library was built to help speed up the process.

Sports logos

I've had the opportunity to work on logo and mascot designs for several NCAA Division 1 and 2 schools, as well as some junior college teams. A few times I've been involved with some elite high schools with their athletic team efforts. And, a couple of them are 'sports related'. In any case, I love the process of creating these mascots or just being part of their evolution.

Centerville Elks

Die-hard fan

San Jacinto Colleges

IMG Academy Ascenders

ESRI Workforce

ESRI Workforce is a field utility app using ArcGIS mapping technology for smarter workforce coordination. You can assign workers to a task right from your device and track its completion or any other information in real time. It works for fleet vehicles, field worker teams and many other applications.

The illustrations shown here are the software update splash screens for the mobile app and the UI screens for the desktop app. The desktop screens are shown in their 'empty' states and help the user quickly understand how to use the software and get started.

Project Details

Agency ESRI Creative LabDate 2015Skills Icon Design, Illustration

Gig Posters

I love music. All kinds, shapes, and sizes. I also love creating interesting images that draw the viewer in. And, I especially love working with typography. One of my big influences (and favorite places to visit) in type and poster design is Hatch Show Print in Nashville. Wood type, digital type or hand lettering, it all is fair game in the creative process.

So, combined with my skills in concept development and illustration, I can create a truly unique voice for any concert or event. Let me know if you'd like to chat.

Smith & Noble Email Design

To round out the recent re-branding of Smith & Noble, America's premier provider of designer quality custom window treatments and home decor products, the email look and feel has been redesigned. To accent the beautifully lit imagery, there is more adventurous typography and lighter tone to the messaging. Here are some samples.

Yokohama Campaign

This print campaign was designed to appear in major market auto enthusiast print publications and expand on the ‘I am’ concept direction of some of the agency’s earlier explorations. I was asked to give them my take on the print work, with some of my own visual and typographic approaches added to the mix.

200 years of Bicycles

2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the bicycle. As you may or may not know, I've been a life-long cyclist. Ever since I was a kid, I've always been fascinated by the bicycle's invention, culture, and seemingly constant evolution. Literally hundreds of variations on this simple theme of two wheels and locomotion. Some very basic and some extremely complex, from crude and often heavy foundry metals to the latest in ultralight, aerospace materials, but amazingly enough, all very close to the same.

What better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than putting my illustrative spin on some of the truly classic designs? Enjoy.

Top Fuel Dragster Infographic

I've always been fascinated by different types of racing. One thing is for sure, the Top Fuel Dragster is a fascinating automotive creature. There are tons of stats that have been collected on this technological evolution of a race car. So, it made a perfect subject for an infographic.

The Top Fuel Dragster - By the numbers

Top Fuel dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing vehicles on the planet and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racers, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of 333 mph (539 km/h) and finishing the 1,000 ft (305 m) runs in a blistering 3.7 seconds.

That’s an average of over 4Gs of acceleration. Almost twice the G-forces experienced by a fighter pilot on takeoff from an aircraft carrier. They are crazy fast.

How does this happen?

Well, it all starts with a 2,225 lbs., 300 in. long dragster, 7,500 hp and a sometime-rocket-fuel known as nitromethane. 0.84 seconds to accelerate to 100 mph from a standstill.

The 500 cubic inch engine, with a 3,000 CFM supercharger will consume 22.75 gallons of fuel during warmup, burnout, staging and the quarter-mile run.

$1,250.00 will get you a fresh pair of Goodyear R36 x 17.5 rear slicks every four runs – if you’re lucky. Such rapid acceleration causes the tires to grow up to 24%.

You’ll go through 28 quarts of 70-weight oil and 16 spark plugs during a warm-up and run.

If you make the final, your entire day's racing is a total of 18 seconds.

Tour de France Jersey Infographic

If you're a fan of the Tour de France, you know how difficult it is to try and explain all the rules, etiquette and traditions to a new and enthusiastic spectator. This guide was built to explain one of the long-standing traditions of the colored jersey ceremony at the end of every Tour stage. The colors, what they mean and who some of their winners are. Enjoy.

Smith & Noble Eyeball Estimator

Smith & Noble is America's premier provider of designer-quality custom window treatments and home decor products. As with anything custom that people fall in love with, your potential customers eventually want to know, “How much will they cost”. To try and overcome that often awkward conversation about money, we created the Eyeball Estimator. It gives the client three different decorating approaches – ranging from simple to statement windows. Before taking formal measurements, the In-home designer can get a rough idea of how large the windows in a room or house will be based on the standard yard stick approach. Then, by moving the slider back and forth, the client can get a feel for what they’re goals and budget can accommodate. This gets the elephant out of the room at the start and lets both the client and designer work out materials, features and options. And most of all, less surprises.

Robots

Initially started as a personal project from the March of Robots event on Instagram, it blossomed into something even bigger. I didn't want to make my robots overly sinister or dark, but fun, quirky and maybe even useful. They each have a different skill or task and are purposefully colored with a unique palette.

I have had some real fun creating these creatures, so this will be an on-going project. Stay tuned for new ones.

300 Random Icons

In, 2012, I decided to challenge myself with a personal project. The thought was to expand my concepting and illustration skills on a much higher level than I was used to professionally. My project was called 300 Random Icons.

The challenge, in a nutshell, was to create an icon for whatever random two-word phrases I could come up with. Some were common, some were timely, some were even ridiculous. But, they were all there to try and visualize in a single image for my blog followers to see. They weren't all great, but some turned out pretty nice.

Sometimes I have to wonder, 'What was I thinking?' The point was, I didn't think too much about it. I just did it. And, most importantly, I finished it. That's pretty cool.

Streamline Cabinets

I was approached by Streamline Cabinets to help with building an online ordering experience for cabinet installers and contractors. My task was taking the current set of CAD-based line drawings of the modular cabinet pieces and building them as an icon set for the software. From reviewing their set, my initial impressions were to try and build something that was easy to understand visually, and also easier to work with from a UI designer's standpoint.

Simple and modular.

The icon set built previously was random sizes, badly drawn and extremely inconsistent in style and appearance. My solution for the new set was to create a system that once built, it would be easy to render and potentially add to – if needed. This made it easy for the user to understand what cabinets they were viewing and how to build their kitchen or storage rooms.

All of the Streamline icons were built on the same grid, so they occupy the same pixel space and work completely as a set.

Agility Fuel Systems

Agility Fuel Systems approached me about designing a new corporate brochure to help show off their newest offerings in fuel tanks and accessories for the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector of fleet vehicles. The primary objective was to help fleet managers make educated decisions about either converting their trucks or purchasing new trucks with CNG systems pre-installed. Either way, it would help create a greener fleet and ultimately, improve their bottom line.

My art direction and illustration skills came into play to help simplify and explain their various offerings, configurations and statistical information throughout the brochure.

Smith & Noble Wellness Posters

In the midst of the recent Smith & Noble branding evolution, the color palette evolved, the fonts changed and the S&N Café (lunch and break area) needed a little sprucing up. So, we were tasked with creating some positive and colorful wellness posters to give the place some life. Here are a sampling of them.

Cristana Home

This is a logo and identity design for an established interior designer that wanted to extend into a furniture line and a retail store. The store carries very high-end furniture and along with it, beautiful housewares to accessorize the entire look. Warm and inviting textures, with a complementary color palette, helps communicate the tone of the store.

Spanish revival influence.

The logo crest was based on Moorish shapes and patterns, helping bring through the Spanish revival style that Cristana wanted to reference in the design.

Built with extension in mind.

As with any luxury brand, the opportunity to extend your offerings is always a consideration when building a logo. Retail, manufacturing or corporate extensions are something to be planned for. With this one, the logo and mark are made to be modular, with possible extensions accommodated for with the subtext.

I was also the Art Director of all of the photography for the Casa Comodoro book shown here. It was all done on location with photographer, Will Hare.

Untappd

Untappd is a fun, mobile-based social network for beer enthusiasts. It uses the Foursquare API to allow users to check-in, upload photos and share information with their beer-loving friends.

My assignment was to create a set of icon badges that will encourage users to want to collect and share their Untappd achievements with their friends. The badges have fun, tongue-in-cheek titles like Hair of the Dog, Night Out, The Usual. I designed and illustrated the original 50 icons in the set, to great success.

Badges have become promotional vehicles for craft brewers, pubs, companies and festivals. At one year, Untappd reached 100,000 registered users, 150,000+ uploaded photos and over 4 million check-ins.

As of February 2013, it has grown to 400,000 users and 21+ million check-ins. To this day, it continues to grow and expand.

Project Details

Client Something More HumanDate 2010Skills Icon Design, Illustration

DG Performance

DG Performance has been around for a number of years, dating back to the 1970s. Among other things, they are best known for their performance exhaust systems for motorcycles and ATVs. High quality craftsmanship and materials sets them apart from their competitors – especially in the off-road arena.

I was asked to design and build their latest print and online available catalog to show off their new Reduced Sound Technology exhaust hardware. Damion Hickman Design managed the project.

Great Call

This assignment was a redesign of an icon system for Motorola's Jitterbug phone. Rebranded as Great Call, it was targeted primarily for seniors with functions like medication reminders, live nurse access, wellness and basic texting. These icons would eventually appear throughout the website and on promotional and print materials.

American Ace Supply

American Ace Supply are one of California’s top suppliers of electrical, plumbing, lighting, HVAC and building materials. Serving primarily contractors and service professionals, they also work with developers and building maintenance. The concept here was to tie in their locations with a clean, fresh and cohesive look while giving a solid nod to the American Ace naming and color scheme.

Bancroft Bulldogs

A new sports mascot logo design and illustration designed for the Bancroft Bulldogs, a private school located in Boston, Massachusetts. Bancroft School’s ad agency, the Kor Group reached out to me about working with them on this fun and challenging project for the school’s middle and high school students’ sports program.

They had seen some of my other sports work and wanted to create something bold, unique and tough to go with their chosen mascot, the bulldog. Well, the ‘tough’ thing about designing a bulldog mascot is, well it’s been done – a lot. In fact, my biggest fear working on this project was treading on previously covered ground and having to start completely over. So, I thought the best approach to follow was to start sketching and see what comes up. After drafting up a few directions I would check my usual sources to see if we had something different enough to stand on its own and go from there.

A clean version of bulldog with angled, bold type would prevail as the final selection. As you can see, the applications were quite varied and extensive. Overall, it turned out pretty nice.

As an added bonus, I created a time-lapse video of how the logo was rendered in Adobe Illustrator. It’s roughly 4 hours of vector rendering time compressed into 3 minutes – all done from the approved pencil sketch. Enjoy.

ESRI Landsat

The ESRI Landsat app allows you to navigate the world with Landsat satellite imagery. Landsat takes images of the planet to reveal its secrets, from volcanic activity to urban sprawl.

Landsat sees things on the electromagnetic spectrum, including what's invisible to the human eye. Different spectral bands yield insight about our precious and continually changing Earth.

Over the past 43 years, Landsat has amassed over a petabyte of data, with over 4 million scenes and counting. It takes images of every location on earth every 16 days. You can explore historic images to see how places change over time.

The icons and the web app built for this project were put together in a week, as the team was notified that the images would be available via an Amazon S3 server for the public to view, with very little lead time. I was responsible for the icon design.

Fusion Studio

Fusion Studio is an app that helps you digitally blend and mix existing pieces of music, all on your iOS devices. The client originally approached me about designing a logo for his development company. From there, the app logo was created and followed suit with a set of custom icons for the app directory. He was inspired by my 300 Random Icons project and wanted to see icons that fit that more illustrative style, rather than the very common linear approach seen on many App Store apps.

The round format for the icons lent themselves to some fun promotional items like the buttons shown.

Project Details

Client Dissent Studios Date 2014Skills Icon Design, Illustration

Brite & Groom

Brite & Groom Auto Detailing approached me to do a logo design that was 'quirky'. They knew their name was a bit unusual and had a fun element already built in. They wanted to capitalize on it. What made it even more interesting was that their business is based in Singapore – a culture I wasn't entirely familiar with. That's OK. I was willing to learn.

Folks in Singapore take their cars – and their car care, very seriously. But, not too seriously. B&G wanted to make sure their new branding and identity was recognizable and professional. Therefore, when we went to design their employees' company uniforms, they wanted to make sure everything worked well together – especially with the humid climate.

After a few rounds of sketches, we landed on this very fun newlywed couple driving their soap suds convertible. The color scheme they approved was able to extend well into the print, web, apparel and signage materials.

It was especially exciting to see how their sign vendor translated the happy couple into their backlit garage logo. Very fun.

3-IN-ONE Lubricants

This project was brought to me as a packaging redesign for the 3-In-One division of WD-40 brands, by their agency, O'Leary and Partners. Part of the reason for my involvement was for my icon design expertise. To help illustrate what each of these lubricants does, I designed a pair of product uses in the appearance of bearings, tools, hardware, and engines – for example. Each product got its own color combination to work with and the familiar 3-in-One badge at the top of the can.

A full set of icons were created for the line, with the flexibility of extending the product range even further.

Signature Properties

What initially started out as a project to convert some existing corporate real estate signage into a new look for a solo agent's business, blossomed into a full-fledged identity system. Signature Properties focuses on luxury and investment properties in the Houston region of Texas.

To try and separate them from the more corporate real estate companies, we tried to look at their identity a little differently. After a pretty thorough logo study, the angled quill pen and subtle blues, combined with a rather calligraphic logotype made the foundation for a clean and unique identity. Rich, color photography helps carry off the luxury feel with lots of white space in all the additional elements.

The identity was a spring board to a very successful launch in a tough economic market. I wish them continued success in the future.

Oldcastle - Westile

Originally, I was contracted to work with Oldcastle-Westile, a high-quality roofing and paver materials company, to produce some sales collateral pieces for their marketing department. As those were completed and the success of the materials began to show, it became a very lasting business relationship.

I designed and built collateral materials, ad materials, posters, calendars, stationery, banners and even sample boxes for architects to spec the Westile products — pretty much everything you would need to promote your brand.

Nousuon Grass Fed Beef

Nousoun Grass Fed Beef was conceived as an online-only, premium beef retailer with a delivery range of 3 days from its Portland, Oregon headquarters. As with anything premium, the customer experience when receiving the goods is paramount. That's why we took the design route we did with the shipping boxes and freeze bags.

In a traditional store, the customer would usually prefer to see the meat through the clear wrap to ensure they were getting what they paid for before purchase. We wanted to make sure that like many other premium items, that the opening of the box was something special. And, keeping the beef properly chilled and fresh upon arrival was the ultimate goal. Therefore, we went with this packaging direction.

Orange County Transportation Authority VanPool Birds

Awhile back I got hired to create some characters for a carpool commuter program advertising campaign. The folks at Klein + Klein had an idea to create a flock of birds that would represent the everyday commuter making their way to work. To bring in the van idea, we had them standing on top of a van in traffic. From there, the idea came to having the birds doing some of the things many VanPool commuters do to pass the time during their commute and NOT driving. They're taking it easy reading the morning paper, listening to music or even – tweeting! Get it?

Anyway, we had a lot of fun with it. Here are some of the applications and their characters. Enjoy!

Project Details

Agency Klein + KleinDate 2013Skills Character Design, Illustration

Tiddlywinks Toys & Games

Nestled right there in the middle of Old Towne Orange, California is a new toy store, called Tiddlywinks Toys and Games. The premise of the store is to create a niche market of unique and nostalgic toys that appeal to parents, grandparents, and most importantly, kids. Every piece of inventory is carefully selected to have something special that kids and families can enjoy – and there are no electronics. Their aim was not to try and compete with the big box stores like Target or Toys-R-Us, but create a place that has a nice sense of community, with monthly events and story times. Something those big stores just can’t do.

After the logo design was settled on, we continued on everything from simple promotional items like buttons, balloons, and temporary tattoos, to social media presence, email blasts, the website, storefront graphics and exterior signage. I even had the opportunity to illustrate a mural that went around the perimeter of the store.

One of the cooler experiences of the project was trying a new type of display printing that prints hi-resolution artwork right on a wood substrate. The client located a vendor that has a large format inkjet printer that can print on all sorts of wood and MDF materials. That’s how the distressed shingle sign, sandwich board and wrap panels were produced. Even the interior mural was printed using this new technology. It definitely turned out cool, and I hope to use that type of substrate again sometime soon.

Heck, the wood slats concept turned out so good, it became a visual theme throughout the identity design, going on the website, Twitter page and email template.

Pizza Hut Hawaii

You don't get this assignment every day. The regional Hawaiian Islands Pizza Hut stores wanted to promote their newly updated online ordering system on their pizza boxes. Oh, and while you're there, let's promote that they had a wider menu with pasta and salads, too. So, we needed a simple design that would print well on cardboard and had that local island feel to it.

I designed the box with a set of simple, linear icons to help communicate their new message.

CHS Engineers

CHS Engineers is an established civil engineering, land surveying, and consulting firm located in the Pacific Northwest. Although they had a solid business and client base working with numerous public and private entities on everything from construction to storm drains to pump stations, their corporate identity and online presence needed a new look. So, they came to me for help.

We took a very basic and somewhat fragmented identity and gave it new life. A new mark, new typefaces, and an updated color palette were brought into the mix – and after that, a more effective, responsive, SEO-centric and easier to manage WordPress website.

ESRI Forestry

Initially started as a presentation set, this forestry collection turned out to be a very effective sales tool for assembling comprehensive business proposals for ESRI ArcGIS Pro software. 60+ icons visually representing growth cycles, machinery, processing, transport, and species designation. Each is at least two colors and has a outlined buffer to help with visibility at smaller sizes.